Gianni Zanasi
Non Pensarci

 Someone mentioned neo-neo-realism. Someone said it's a breath of fresh air in the national cinema scene. Someone complained about the cinematography. Surely, "Non pensarci" is a small film that knows where it's going and does it in a simple and fun way.

Gianni Zanasi's comedy starts from a good premise, though widely exploited: the inevitable downturn of transitioning to fully adult age and the consequent realization of everything unresolved. Stefano Nardini (Valerio Mastandrea is as credible as he is likable), a 35-year-old slacker guitarist, can't give his career a boost: the ramshackle band he plays with can't release the right album. This stands symptomatic of a general stagnation in his life, and when his girlfriend cheats on him, he temporarily abandons the Roman underground music scene to return to his hometown where he hasn't been for a long time.

Here, Stefano's family owns a small canned cherry factory that his older brother Alberto (Giuseppe Battiston is the best of the bunch), a neurotic and frustrated forty-year-old due to marital crisis, manages instead of the father, who is now semi-retired and totally unaware (?) of his family's matters. The mother is also bored and sad, lifting herself up with new age courses. The only serene note seems to be Michela (a splendid Anita Caprioli with her fresh-faced beauty), the sister, who left university to work at the local dolphinarium.

Stefano’s rebellious streak initially brings deliberate chaos to the seemingly quiet family rhythm, as he who had fled from a flat, monotonous, and closed provincial reality that always made him feel like an unidentified object in his own core. A last spur against life's and society's absurdities only to then recompose himself upon discovering the risk of the family's "cherry factory" bankruptcy.

This seems to be the element that silently and spontaneously initiates a reconciliation among the disjointed parts of the Nardini family, through the bitter revelation the mother makes to Stefano, to the resolution of the misunderstanding Stefano himself deliberately caused around his sister. In all this, we witness the change in the tormented Alberto, who finally finds both the help he lacked from family, which put him and the business in crisis, and feelings thanks to his association with a high-class escort (Caterina Murino is a sight to behold).

A story that revolves around various small micro-stories of dissatisfaction, situations on the brink of exhaustion and everyday bitterness, handled by the talented Zanasi with irony and delicacy. It is a film of few pretensions, not aspiring to deliver openly salvific messages nor to deal with social subjects with a psychoanalytic approach, but simply describing a situation where anyone can identify with their own disappointments and defeats. With a sincere smile, without the useless screams or narcissistic fits that have recently made the fortune of so many pseudo directors and actors in our country. The title itself is not an invitation not to think about it, but just not to worry too much, because once on the edge, final redemption starts automatically. Just have faith.

P.S.: The soundtrack deserves mention, spanning from indie rock to Mozart's Don Giovanni, arriving at the pleasant rediscovery of Ivan Graziani, with "Agnese" in the beautiful final scenes... and never mind if the image quality isn't superb!